Chapter 7: The Command Interface

RealProducer Pro allows you to use the command line to create and modify streaming media files (.rm files). You run these utilities through the MS-DOS prompt.

The following programs are available to you:

realprodpro is a command line version of RealProducer Pro. It allows you to convert .avi or .wav files into .rm files using many of the same features.
rmeditor allows you to change information about an .rm file, trim the length of the clip, combine multiple .rm files, and create a text file containing the file's information.
rmevents allows you to merge image map and event text files into an existing .rm file and extract events and image maps from a .rm file into a text file.

Using realprodpro

This executable allows you to create media files by typing commands at a DOS prompt. The command interface can be a useful tool for quickly generating and testing intermediate versions of media files or for automating production.

To use the command line encoder:

Open the MS-DOS prompt.
Change the directory to the main RealProducer Pro directory.
The default main directory is c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro.
Type realprodpro <switches> where <switches> are the recording switches you specify to generate the output media. See the tables below for more details on all necessary switches and their values.
RealProducer Pro converts the specified input into RealAudio or RealVideo once you press Enter. The ouput file will be forced to have a .rm extension.

Switches

The following table shows different switches you can use on a command line.

realprodpro Switches
Syntax	Description	Default Value	Example
-i <input file>	name and directory of the input file	no default	-i c:\Real\foo.avi
-o <output file>	name of the output file	<input file>.rm	-o c:\Real\foo.rm
-t <title>	the title for the recorded clip	none	-t "The Title"
-a <author>	the author for the recorded clip	none	-a "Joe Schmoe"
-c <copyright>	the copyright date and owner for the recorded clip	none	-c "1999, by Acme"
-b <beginning frame>	a frame in the input movie to serve as the first frame (frames are counted starting with 1 for the first frame)	1	-b 20
-e <end frame>	a frame in the input movie to serve as the last frame	the last frame of the source	-e 122
-s <settings file>	the settings file used to compress the input file; must have a .fcs extension (use quotes if the .fcs file contains spaces)	none	-s videohigh.fcs
-?	displays help for the command line

For names of settings files to use, look in the RealProducer Pro Settings folder. Usually this will be:



c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\settings\

Examples

The following example records foo.avi into a RealVideo file using compression settings from Video Voice -- High Bitrates.fcs, "Dark and Stormy Night" as the title of the clip, "Fritz" as the author, and no copyright. The output file defaults to foo.rm.



realprodpro -i foo.avi -c "Video Voice -- High Bitrates.fcs" -t "Dark and Stormy Night" -a "Fritz"

The next example uses the same settings as above, but only records from frame 5 to frame 320.



realprodpro -i foo.avi -c "Video Voice -- High Bitrates.fcs" -t "Dark and Stormy Night" -a "Fritz" -b 5 -e 320

Automating Movie Generation

You can automate the process of movie generation by creating a batch file and adding a command line for each movie you want to generate. To avoid invoking multiple instances of realprodpro (RealProducer Pro) precede each command line with:



start /w

The following example shows the text of a batch file that will generate three media files. If you want to suppress display of the command lines as the batch file executes, begin the file with the @echo off command.



@echo off



start /w "c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\realprodro" -i c:\movies\sun.avi -o c:\myvivs\sun.rm -s 288ModemVoice.fcs -t "My First Movie" -a "Ann S." -c Copyright "My Software, Inc., 1999"



start /w "c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\realprodpro" -i c:\projects\moon.avi -o c:\myvivs\moon.rm -s T1FM240x180.fcs -t "My First Movie" -a "Ann S." -c Copyright "My Software, Inc., 1999"



start /w "c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\realprodpro" -i c:\media\stars.avi -o c:\myvivs\stars.rm -s ISDNVoice160x120.fcs -t "My First Movie" -a "Ann S." -c Copyright "My Software, Inc., 1999"

Using rmeditor

This executable allows you to modify a previously created .rm file by changing clip information, recording and downloading options, and clip length.

To use the command line editor:

Open the MS-DOS prompt.
Change the directory to the main RealProducer Pro directory.
The default main directory is c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\.
Type rmeditor -i input.rm -o output.rm <switches> where input.rm is the name of the input file, output.rm is the name of the output file, and <switches> are the editing switches you specify. See the table below for more details on all necessary switches.

Switches

The following table describes each switch that you can use on the command line.

RMEditor Switches
Syntax	Description	Example
-a <author>	name of the author of the clip	-a "New Name"
-t <title>	title of the clip	-t "New Title"
-c <copyright>	copyright information	-c "1999 by My Company"
-C <comments>	any comments about the clip	-C "blah blah"
-k 0 or 1	allow download	-k 1
-r 0 or 1	allow recording for RealPlayer Plus users	-r 1
-s <dd:hh:mm:ss>	start time of the edited clip in days:hours:minutes:seconds	-s 00:00:30:45.20
-e <dd:hh:mm:ss>	end time of the edited clip in days:hours:minutes:seconds; use 0 to specify the end of the input file	-e 00:02:15:00.00
-l <file>	the path and name of the log file; edit results are written to this file	-l c:\Real\Producer\logs\logfile.txt
-d <file>	the path and name of the dump file; the contents of the input file are written to this file	-l c:\Real\Producer\dumps\dumpfile.txt

Examples

The following example allows you to view the current title, author, copyright, comments, mobile playback and selective record settings:



rmeditor -i input.rm

The following example changes the title of input.rm to "New Title" and saves the file as output.rm:



rmeditor -i input.rm -t "New Title" -o output.rm

The following example disables the selective record option and saves the file as output.rm:



rmeditor -i input.rm -r 0 output.rm

The following example trims both the beginning and end of input.rm and saves the result as output.rm:



rmeditor -i input.rm -s 0:0:3:2.20 -e 0:0:4:2.20 -o output.rm

Note
The start and end times will be adjusted in video clips so that the clip starts and ends on keyframes.

	Note
The start and end times will be adjusted in video clips so that the clip starts and ends on keyframes.

The following example pastes several .rm files together into one output file:



rmeditor -i input1.rm -i input2.rm -i input3.rm -o output.rm

Note
If more than one input file is specified, any start and end time arguments will be ignored.

	Note
If more than one input file is specified, any start and end time arguments will be ignored.

Using rmevents

This executable allows you to merge events and image map text files to an .rm file. Events and image map text files are created using a text editor. Refer to the RealSystem G2 Production Guide for more information. It also allows the user to extract events and image maps from a .rm file into a text file, so they may be edited using any text editor.

To use the command line events utility:

Open the MS-DOS prompt.
Change the directory to the main RealProducer Pro directory.
The default main directory is c:\Program Files\Real\RealProducer Pro\.
Type rmevents -i input.rm -o output.rm <switches> where input.rm is the name of the input file, output.rm is the name of the output file, and <switches> are the events switches you specify. See the table below for more details on all necessary switches.

Switches

The following table describes each switch that you can use on the command line.

RMEvents Switches
Syntax	Description	Example
-e <file>	path and name of the event text file	-e c:\Real\event.txt
-m <file>	path and name of the image map text file	-m c:\Real\image.txt
-d <dump>	the path and name of the dump files that hold the image maps and events dumped from the input file; events will be dumped into <dump>_evt.txt and image maps to <dump>_imap.txt	-d c:\Real\events\input

Examples

The following example merges an event text file with a .rm file:



rmevents -i input.rm -e events.txt -o output.rm

The following example merges an image map text file with a .rm file:



rmevents -i input.rm -m image.txt -o output.rm

The following example dumps image maps and events from the input file into files named input_imap.txt and input_evt.txt, respectively:



rmevents -i input.rm -d input